The world is rife with cloud storage providers who would be happy to hold on to your data so you can share it with others, but you have to give up a little control to keep your files on a server you don't own. BitTorrent's Sync service offers an alternative "cloud-free" solution, and the Android app has just been bumped to v1.4 with a number of new features.

Enhanced backup functionality allows you to back up any folder on your Android device.

Updated user interface allows you to easily share a folder of stuff with other people, all without using the cloud.

Easily share folders via HTTPS link, email, or QR code.

Additional product enhancements and optimizations

BitTorrent Sync uses your own devices as "seeds" in a private torrent swarm. You can give access to other people to become part of the swarm for any file or folder. That means their devices with the client installed will also have a copy of the content, which adds to your syncing speed. Like regular torrents, Sync relies on having enough seeds to split up with work and get your files from one device to another quickly. At no time do they reside in a server someplace on the internet, and the only limit on file size is how much storage you have.

This update improves the interface and makes sharing files more secure with additional layers of security and file access restrictions. Sync works on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, and some NAS boxes. The more devices you have connected to Sync, the faster your transfers will be, so maybe it's time to get that old phone out of the drawer and put it to use.